Marikana massacre

 The Marikana massacre relevance today and South Africans obligement to view the award-winning documentary.

By Qaqamba Matundu

The killing of 34 miners by the police at Marikana in August 2012 was the largest massacre at civilians in South Africa since Sharpeville massacre. The event has been covered in newspapers articles, on tv news and in commission of inquiry but the is still confusion of what happened on that fateful day’. (Tshetlo,2019).

Today that event is relevantnt because, that incident happened under the constitutional democracy and the strikers were shot by the government workers, the South African Police Service (SAPS). This event came after the conflict of wages. ‘The strike was for wage increase and to address the poor living conditions of miners and their families in Marikana. These problems were not formally addressed by NUM or by Lonmin during the strike many of the strikers instead began losing their jobs and protesters were met unrelenting hostility by the security, the police and union personnel and management.

The report absolved the key political figures who were accused of having a hand in the events leading to the massacre including the state president Cyril Ramaphosa who at that time of the massacre was a non-executive director at Lonmin, former police minister Nathi Mthethwa, former mineral resources minister Susan Shabangu and the national police commissioner Ria Phiyego.

The Marikana massacre is still important today. The Association of Mining and Construction workers Union (AMCU) called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to meet the widows of the miners who died in Marikana massacre. AMCU president Joseph Mathunjwa said some of the living conditions of the widows were deplorable, while some had replaced their husbands at mines. Mathunjwa said the widows were traumatized by the massacre. He said he had written a letter to Ramaphosa, but he had not responded.

‘When some several SAPS workers were in court last month Vuyo Zungula, the president of African Transformation movement said the president and others need to be charged. He also said the Farlom Commision of inquiry failed to deal with all the Marikana massacre saga. The problem in our political leaders is that they are politically connected, they ask junior officials to do the things on their behalf because they will be exempted from facing justice’ (Mafisa,2019).

South Africans must be obliged to view this documentary because ‘miners shot down is about so much more than the massacre by the police of 34 striking workers at Lonmin Platinum mine. The film offers a unique prism through which to view contemporary power in Democratic South Africa (and globally) where the unholy trinity of capital politics and security were (and are) pitted against labour poorly paid, badly educated, and exploited workers. The film also shows that the miners had been so shockingly ‘othered’ that killing them were not beyond the imagination or capacity of those in power and authority.’ (Thamm,2014).

The more people involved in an event, the newsworthy it is. There were thousands of strikers, and it was decided to deploy maximum forces against the workers. This is one of the news values that makes the massacre important even today. The massacre situation drew some emotional reaction, it contains the news elements of a human-interest story. The massacre was an intensely traumatic experience for all its victims.

What is #hagtag and its importance in journalism.

By Qaqamba Matundu

Reports as ‘A hashtag is a label used on social media sites that makes it easier to find posts or information with a theme or contains specific content. It is created by including the symbol ‘#’ in front of a word or words without spaces’.(Tyler,2015) Hashtag serves a purpose in today’s world of social media. Users can quickly get bogged down in information overload. Using hashtag makes it easy to cut through digital clutter focus only on information we really want. Hashtags are typically used on social media sites such as Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Google+ and Pinterest. The symbol makes it easier to search for relevant or associated content in 2007, the symbol gained importance in social media communication when Chris Messina first introduced it on Twitter.

Hashtag is important in journalism in such a way that it draws attention at audience. It helps you to be found by their target audience. Hashtags helps you to reach more people who are interested in what your content holds. Reports as “Hashtags are the simplest way to organize the endless amount of information posted on social media.”(Tyler,2015) Hashtag can grow your audience, so it is particularly important in journalism.

Examples of hashtag for Marikana massacre document includes #justiceformarikanawidows, #remembermarikana, #accountability, after years of massacre the is still no body held accountable, so the #accountability highlights the term to draw attention and promote a message.

Difference between news writing and opinion piece writing in journalism

By Qaqamba Matundu

News writing is when you write news for publication on newspapers or any kind of media reporting what is currently happening in the world. News writing answers all the questions about who, what, when where and why? Its purpose is to inform and entertain people and give them information of the events happening around them.

When we talk about journalism we mean, the profession that involves collection of information about a particular subject and then report that conclusion to the audience through print, digital or broadcast media.

Reports as ‘Opinion journalism reports on topic using subjective ideas rather than objective facts. Opinion journalists report stories from their perspective including their own thoughts and biases.’ (Indeed.com,2020). It is unique because writers include their viewpoints. Opinion writing is very much useful in helping people to understand their opinions and values, so overall opinion piece writing is about a writing from your own perspective. Sometimes opinion pieces are called op-eds. These articles allow readers of newspapers to voice their ideas and views and topics ranging in their communities and international controversy.

Opinion writing are placed on different page away from news stories. Opinion pages usually do not include advertisement on their page to avoid the assertion that those advertisers are endorsing the same opinion. I can conclude and say, news writing does not express opinions unless it is attributed to its source. Opinion pieces only deals with people's views.